Bourlémont is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

located in

Ronchamp Ronchamp () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is located between the Vosges and the Jura mountains. Mining Museum Mining began in Ronchamp in the mid-18th century and h ...

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019. It is located in the Ballons des Vosges Nature Park, and is an area of cultural tourism, given that the chapel of

Notre Dame du Haut Notre-Dame du Haut ( en, Our Lady of the Heights; full name in french: Chapelle Notre-Dame du Haut) is a Roman Catholic chapel in Ronchamp, France. Built in 1955, it is one of the finest examples of the architecture of Franco-Swiss architect Le C ...

is located on it.

Toponymy

In the 18th century, Bourlémont was described as "Notre-Dame-de-Bourg-les-monts", which indicates that there was a fortified town on the hill. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the hill was called the "Bourg Mountain".

Geography

Bourlémont is located in

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

, France. It can be accessed from Chapel Street on the southeastern side of the summit and the

Way of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitati ...

footpath which was created in 1890. The

GR 59 The GR 59 Grande Randonnée long-distance footpath in France connects two mountain ranges across relatively low-lying terrain. In the north, it begins at Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges at a height of over 1000m. It loses height rapidly, and runs ...

and Dukes hiking trails pass along the eastern side of the hill. The hill has an altitude of , meaning that it is higher than the centre of Ronchamp (), which is at the foot of the hill. Bourlémont is mainly composed of red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, but there is also a presence of

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amo ...

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especia ...

. The climate of the hill has

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (a ...

and

oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places *Oceanic, British Columbia Oceanic is an unincorporated set ...

influences, and it experiences very low winter temperatures.

History

In ancient times, a

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of R ...

stood on top of the hill, and in 1092 a Catholic church was built at the same location. In the eighteenth century,

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

existed on the southern flank of the hill, the remains of which still exist. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

, Girardot de Noseroy considered building a fort on the hill, but these plans were abandoned given the maintenance cost and weather conditions. At the start of the eighteenth century, the chapel on the hill was the only

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activitie ...

in Ronchamp and the surrounding hamlets. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, ownership of the chapel changed many times. On 27 July 1796, it was sold to Jean-Jacques Marsault for 600

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 ...

. On 28 January 1797 it was sold to Claude François Billy for 875 livre. In 1801, the chapel became a public place of worship, but remained guarded. Between 1844 and 1857, a new shrine was constructed in the shape of a cross, which was long and wide, which was connected to the chapel. On 8 September 1873 the chapel held a large pilgrimage, where 30,000 people from Alsace, Lorraine and Franche-Comté visited the chapel. In the 1880s, a cottage was built near the chapel, which was occupied until the 1970s when it collapsed. A footpath was constructed in 1890 to assist hikers and pilgrims to reach the chapel, known as the Way of the Cross. On 30 August 1913, a hail storm broke out above Ronchamp. At around 11am, the bell tower of the shrine was struck by lightning which triggered a fire, leaving only the stone walls of the sanctuary, but the chapel was untouched. A new chapel was built on Bourlémont between 1950 and 1955, and in 1965 the chapel was registered as a monument historique. On 29 March 2001, the headframe of Sainte Marie Coal Mine located in the hill was listed as a twentieth-century Monument historique. et

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourlemont Hills of France Landforms of Haute-Saône